Safe and Sound-Discontinued
by Regina Locksley Mills
Summary: A murder of a dancer from a preforming high school leads to the dragging up of Kate's past even more than we've seen. Set after "Once Upon a Crime" Now discontinued but a new story will be out. No xover tho sorry guys. I wasn't happy with where it was going.
1. Penny in the Air

_A/N: Oh hello! Marisa here! This is my first Castle fanfic. It's been so long since I've written murder mystery so please forgive me. I'm a little rusty. Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Oh and if you read any of my other stories (which I hope you don't cause they're so old and gawd awful xD) this Sophia isn't the same person. I just really like that name haha. xD Enjoy!_

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><p>'<em>Drip. Drop. Tick tock goes the clock.'<em> A hand slowly slung on the table. The only thing covering the dead body was the blood, think and crimson like a ball gown. The fleeting figure dropped the dagger with a clatter on the hardwood floor, further spattering the blood. No one would know. No one could miss her right? Not in the long run so what was the harm?

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><p>"A lot of blood from just one body," Kate said as she bent over the dead body, "especially cause she's so tiny, god what was she? A cheerleader?"<p>

"Nope. Dancer. Name's Natalia Hanks. She's seventeen, goes to Paladin School of the Arts a few blocks over. She's a senior, we found her purse with her student ID on the couch." Eposito explained as he walked in, clutching the purse in his left hand.

Kate stood back up, her brow knitted together, why would the killer lay her on the counter? Naked? This didn't make any sense. Did he rape her and then kill her? All these questions she hoped would soon be answered.

Castle peaked over Kate's shoulder and looked away, "wow that's a lot of blood. I saw it from across the room but wow." He looked over at Lanie and then at Kate, "any sign of rape?" He asked just as Beckett did.

Lanie chuckled as they did their thing, "we have to start marking every time you guys do that." Lanie looked at the victim again and shook her head, "there aren't any marks on her thighs or really anything, but I won't know for sure until we get her back to the morgue."

* * *

><p>"Does anyone know where Ms. Hanks is today?" the instructor said, peering over her glasses as her Dance 114 class warmed up on the bars.<p>

Sophia Macgregor stood straight and looked at her instructor, she stretched her arms and shrugged, "I live three doors down from her and she didn't come out when I did from the house like normal."

"Probably hiding at home, scared Sophia'll kick her arse at the auditions today," Halley Porter, an exchange student from London, said with a laugh.

"Ladies, ladies, she's probably just sick, no matter how much I don't like my girls getting sick that is probably the case so don't go around saying things like that," the instructor scolded.

* * *

><p>"Any possible suspects yet?" Kate asked as she put down the phone.<p>

Ryan shrugged, "well, she went to a school where even if some of the girls on a personal level may be friends, but the second the feet hit the dance floor all bets were off. She was auditioning today, according to her dance instructor, for the lead in the school's ballet. But there was one other girl auditioning for the lead. And you'll never guess what else. Last fall, they got into an altercation off school grounds, at some teen club. Our vic apparently hit this girl with her purse and it just blew up from there. Both of them come from money so I guess they made it all "go away." with the school."

"What's her name?" Kate asked and rested her chin on her palm.

"Sophia Macgregor." Kevin said looking at his notepad.

"Big money… Macgregor… you mean Macgregor as in real estate mogul Macgregor?" Castle asked.

"I guess so. I'd have to look." Kevin replied.

Kate began typing on her computer, "Why don't we?" She typed in the girl's name in the system and up came her driver's license and student ID. Both pictures depicted a youthful young girl with near pitch black curly hair, "Sophia Macgregor, seventeen, goes to Paladin School of the Arts, parents are Gregory Macgregor and Andrea Macgregor. I guess you were right Castle. I recognize his name. And here's the statement she made last year about the altercation." Kate scanned her eyes over it, "she seems really pissed. And that was just over getting hit with a purse."

"Maybe she's got a temper," Kevin added in, "big enough a temper if Natalia said the wrong things… a nice little murder could happen."

"Yeah, but why would she have stripped Natalia naked?" Kate asked, "Lover's quarrel?"

Castle shook his head, "nah, if she did, she stripped her naked to humiliate her, not cause they did it. Even if they had done it she'd want everything to seem normal and then pounce."

"I say we go ask," Kate said and stood, grabbing her badge and gun.

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><p>Kate walked into the large hallway of Paladin School of the Arts with Castle tailing close behind her, she opened the door to the front office and flashed her badge, "I need to know what class Sophia Macgregor is in."<p>

The woman behind the desk quickly type, "Down the hallway, towards the end on the right, it should say 'Abernathy' on the side."

Kate nodded and walked down the hallway, she stopped at the appropriate door and peaked inside, inside revealed about ten dancers gracefully spinning and dancing about the room to a routine. Through the door she could hear the drum beat and faint singing from the song 'Dog Days are Over' by Florence in the Machine. Kate slowly opened the door and stood by the wall just inside, Castle followed suit and waited for them to finish before walking up to the instructor, "I'm looking for Sophia Macgregor," Kate said once more and flashed her badge for a second time. Kate scanned the group of girls and the girl, hearing her name eyed Kate suspiciously.

"Over there." The instructor pointed and Kate walked over to her.

"I'm detective Kate Beckett; I need to ask you a few questions, mind if we talk outside?" Kate asked.

Sophia gathered up her bag and looked at her instructor, she nodded and then Sophia nodded herself, "yeah sure," Sophia walked on ahead and kept the door open for them, "umm detective, what's this about?"

"What do you know about Natalia Hanks?"

"Natalia? Umm kinda nice as a person I guess but sometimes you just wanna smack her when she get to talking about her dancing. We practice just as much as she does and she claims to be "better"," Sophia airquoted, "but yeah, what about her?"

"She was found dead this morning on the counter of an abandoned apartment."

Sophia's right hand flew to her mouth, "oh my god." She whispered, "I can't believe it, dead? We just thought she was sick… but dead? And the day of her audition too…" Sophia trailed off.

"Yeah, about her audition, apparently you were the only other one auditioning for the same role she was? Why's that? I bet there's tons of dancers who could do it." Beckett asked.

"I was the only one willing to head to head with little miss perfect dancer. I wasn't afraid of her like the other girls were. Everyone said shit would hit the fan the second the auditions started and they would have probably been right." Sophia shrugged, "but I don't know… I just. I still can't believe she's dead."

"Would you know any reason why someone would want her dead?" Castle asked, "ya know, cause I mean, from what you're saying, there could be a lot of jealously between dancers, do you think any of them could have taken it too far? Maybe even you?"

"What are you insinuating? I KILLED her? No way. I don't really like her but I wouldn't go that far. Besides I don't have steady enough hands to hold a gun, knife or strangle the chick. My hands took a pretty good smash last fall." She looked away.

Kate nodded slowly, "we know about your altercation last fall with her." She looked down and noticed the girl's hands shaking "is that what happens when they stay still for too long?"

Sophia sighed, "Yeah, she came up to me claiming I not only stole the spotlight from her but her boyfriend. They dated for like two months and she dumped him because I guess he didn't come from good enough money." She rolled her eyes, "and then she hit me with her purse."

"How'd your hands get smashed?" Castle asked.

"She had me pinned against the door of the girl's bathroom. Then she shoved me in and when I tried to get back out she smashed the door on my hands."

Kate sighed; this was going nowhere, "alright, well if we have any more questions, we'll be in contact again."

Sophia nodded and then looked behind Kate, finally getting a good look at the man behind her, "oh my god, you're Richard Castle. Oh my god! I am such a huge fan, I just love every single one of your books, especially your latest series, I love Nikki Heat so much, she's just so refreshing and new and I just I totally ship her and Rook together, Hook yes, that should be their couple name. Lauren should totally tell Nikki that at some point. Just a suggestion. Whenever I'm not dancing I'm usually reading one of your books and I really don't wanna sound creepy but that's actually pretty true. Well reading your books or spending time with my boyfriend, yeah one of those two. Oh wow I'm rambling now. Sorry. Umm I had a recital the day you were doing the book signing for Heat Rises, would you sign my copy? Could you? I have it right here in my bag? I was reading for like the fourth time on the way to school this morning." She blushed, feeling embarrassed after her complete and utter fangirl freak out.

Castle's face broke out in a smug grin, "sure! And that's a really good idea. Thanks!" He said as he took out a pen, ready to sign Sophia's book.

Sophia hurried and took the book out; she eagerly handed it to Castle and tried to remember to breathe as he signed her book.

"There you are, Sophia, nice to know I have a fan as talented as you," he smirked and handed her the book back, "you're a really great dancer."

Sophia felt as though she was going to cry, her favorite author thought, no SAID, she was a great dancer. This has made her day, no LIFE. Sophia let out an uncontrollable squeal, "oh wow, thanks Mr. Castle! That means so much, dancing's pretty much the only thing I'm good at and hearing you say that just wow." Her right hand covered her mouth again, trying to conceal further squealing.

"You're very welcome," he smirked and looked at Kate who was blatantly disapproving at the boost to his ego.

"What? She got really excited, it's not my fault I'm so lovable!" He laughed as he walked back to Kate's car, "gotta love the fangirls."

Kate rolled her eyes and got in the car, "wow, Castle just wow. That girl really needs to reprioritize. If she spends that much time reading your books I'm really worried about her."

"Oh yes and you own all of my books because?..." he asked with his smirk near permanently plastered on his face.

"Shut up, Castle." She told him, sarcasm oozing from her tone as she started the engine.


	2. Penny Drops

**A/N: And so I'm back! I hope you enjoy chapter two! Bombshell at the end!**

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><p>"So Kate, I was thinking, that girl looks a lot like you," Castle said with a smirk as he took a seat next to her.<p>

Kate kept on typing on the computer, "Castle, is this a compliment or something? You're getting rusty."

"Well you both are very attractive," he said with a shrug. "But really, you know that thing you do when you get frustrated?"

She looked at him in annoyance and then her brow furrowed and her lips curled, "no… what are you talking about?"

"THAT! That thing you just did. When she thought we accused her of killing Natalia she did that." He pointed out.

"Castle, we have a murder to solve, not play a game of who's your mama, besides, I don't even wanna know where you're going with this," she said as she turned back to her computer, bending her neck and shrugging her left shoulder as if trying to shake something off.

Just then the phone rang and Kate picked it up, she murmured a few words and a 'thanks Lanie.' Kate stood up and grabbed the case file, "Lainie's got the autopsy done." She started walking off the elevator to go to the morgue, Castle in tow.

"So, whatcha got, Lainie?" Kate asked.

Lanie looked at her report, "she was stabbed several times in the front which explains all the blood, no sign of rape, and I guess he probably just grabbed her by the thighs to stop her maybe kicking him."

"Any sign of foreign DNA that could be our killer's?" Kate asked.

"Nope, nothing," Lanie sighed, "I was talking to Eposito earlier, he said you went to go question a classmate, get anything from there?"

Kate shook her head, "no, except maybe requiring a hearing aid. She nearly made my ears bleed with the squeal she made when she saw Castle. One of those crazy fangirls, ya know?"

"I prefer to call them hardcore fan," Castle piped in, "besides; it's not a crime to like me as an author."

"Yeah, sure." Kate told him with a roll of her eyes.

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><p>"I can't believe she's dead, mom," Sophia said as she looked up from her book.<p>

"You never know, sweetheart, no one deserves to die but she wasn't the nicest of people…"

"I know but just, ugh." She said and went back to her book.

_Three Days Later_

"Got a lead." Ryan said, "Sophia's medical records check out that she did go to the doctor's about her hands but it was only her right hand that got the brunt of the damage. The doctor also said when she came back in for a checkup, her left hand was a lot better but her right hand was about the same. Get this though, she's left handed."

Castle and Beckett both looked at each other and then Beckett frantically dialed Lanie's number down in the morgue, "Lanie, hey does it look like the stabs would be made by a left handed person?"

"Yeah, why? The angle would only make sense if it was done by a leftie." Lanie said and was soon hung up on. She rolled her eyes and shrugged, setting back down the phone.

"Let's go pick her up." Beckett said, "I can't believe she lied to us." Beckett gritted her teeth and grabbed her badge, gun and keys and headed out.

"Ya know, maybe it wasn't her, so what she's left handed, so are quite a few people." Castle said as they drove to Sophia's house on a Saturday afternoon.

Kate looked over at him, annoyed, "do you know how small of a percentage of the United States is left handed? C'mon, Castle, be reasonable."

"It's just too obvious, and she looked honest to god shocked when we told her Natalia was murdered."

"She's in a preforming arts high school, Castle; she probably picked up a few tricks from one of her drama friends." Beckett said as she pulled into a gated neighborhood, she drove up the road and looked down at the address and then at the house numbers on the mailboxes, "that's it," she said and pulled up to the gate of the third house on the right. She pressed the button and identified herself, the gates opened and she pulled in. Kate got out with Castle and walked up to the front door, a maid appeared, "detective Kate Beckett, I need to talk to Sophia Macgregor, is she home?"

The maid nodded and stepped aside to let them in and closed the door behind them, "I'll get her," she said and looked up at the top of the staircase, "Miss Macgregor, you have company!"

Sophia rushed out, "is it Ty? Is he here yet? I swear if he isn't I'm going to kick his…" Sophia stopped and looked down and saw the cops, and then she darted back into her room.

Beckett was near hot on her heels, rushing up the stairs nearly knocking the maid over and Castle in fact did, yelling an apology on his way. Kate banged on the door of the room she saw Sophia go into and discovered it was locked, "come on, Sophia, open up, we just wanna talk. Just open the door and this can go the easy way."

Sophia slowly opened the door, her bangles jingling as she did so, "I take you heard about my hands." She whispered and let them inside her room, it was huge, the size of Castle's living room, she slowly walked over and sat on her bed, "I just didn't want you to think I killed her, because I didn't."

"Our ME told us the killer was left handed, you're left handed, Sophia, and not that many people, sure not any with motive to kill Natalia would probably be left handed."

Sophia sighed at Kate's explanation, "I just don't know okay, I don't know what it'll take to convince you guys I'm innocent but I am I really am." Sophia stood back up, "are we done here?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Kate pushed back her hair.

"I'll show you guys out." She walked down the stairs with them and bit her lip, "my parents, they were really mad at her about the thing last fall and they've hated her ever since. My mom… she's left handed too, but I didn't get it from her, they I did."

"What are you talking about?"

"My parents don't know that I know I'm adopted, I was looking for my birth certificate for a class project when I was in the seventh grade and found the adoption papers in the same box. I snooped a little more and found out they don't know who my mom or dad are. I guess I'm all they have." She whispered, "But I don't know, they've hated her more than I have since the fight last year." She told them.

"Thanks, Sophia," Kate said and opened the door, "we'll probably be in touch with your parents."

"Don't tell them I know I'm adopted, please." Her throat was tight, "it'll break their hearts and I know it."

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><p>"She didn't do it," Beckett sighed and sat back in her chair, "we gotta look at her mom. I can't believe she's known all this time she's adopted and never once brought it up to her parents." Kate rested her cheek in her palm.<p>

Castle looked at her and sat down his coffee, "well if you found out you were adopted but your parents loved you all the same and you had what she's got, would you bring it up?"

"No, I guess not." She looked back her computer, "I wish there could have been some sort of DNA evidence left behind, there has to be something. It's like the killer just disappeared into thin air." She bit her lip, "I'm gonna go back to the crime scene, maybe I'll find something, a discarded glove, anything."

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><p>"It's like; they cleaned the whole place before they left. But that still doesn't make sense, just ugh what are we missing, Castle?" She said and kicked the non-existent dust at her feet.<p>

"I think Cinderella's missing her shoe," Castle said and pulled out a ballet shoe from underneath the couch.

Kate ran over to him, "how did you find that?" She said, "Castle, I could just kiss you!"

They both realized what she had just said and she looked down at the shoe, "right um, let's see if we can pull any DNA of maybe dried in sweat or something from this." She said and found herself falling back on the rug, pulling Castle with her, they landed with an oomph, the shoe about three feet away, they looked at each other and Kate swallowed hard, soon she felt Castle's lips upon hers and her eyes closed immediately, it wasn't to just distract a suspect this time, they were actually kissing, and she liked it but she couldn't enjoy it, not yet. Kate pushed up against him with her hands and gasped for air, "Castle."

He quickly rolled off her and sat up running his hands through his hair. "That wow, umm."

"That never happened, okay?" Kate stood up and went to fetch the shoe, she slid it in an evidence baggie that she pulled out from her pocket and tried to get her mind off the kiss.

Castle glared at her, "why? Why can't you just let this happen, Kate?"

"Because we're in the middle of a case, Castle, we can't just drop everything and have sex. We have to find a killer." She said, frustrated.

Castle looked at her, "I don't mean that and I don't mean just sex, Kate…"

"Let's talk about this later," she sighed.

Castle let out a frustrated sigh, feeling like a defeated child that didn't get what he wanted after begging his mother for it for the past hour.

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><p>"DNA matches a Halley Porter, we had to call in some favors cause she's an exchange student. And you'll never guess where." Esposito said.<p>

"Paladin School of the Arts," Beckett said with a smirk.

Javier nodded, "yup, same dance class as Natalia and everything. And Lanie found some matching DNA from some dried sweat on Natalia's body that belongs to Halley."

"Let's go pick her up," Beckett said.

"Detective Beckett, my girls are right in the middle of their recital! What is it that you need this time?"

Sophia looked up from where she was warming up backstage with her classmates; she looked over at her friends and crossed her arms. What were they doing here again?

Kate walked up to Halley, "Halley Porter, you're under arrest for the murder of Natalia Hanks. You have the right to remain silent…" Beckett told the girl her rights as she snaked the handcuffs around the teenager's thin wrists.

Sophia's hand flew to her mouth, "oh my god," she whispered. Sophia rushed out the door and ran right into her parents.

"Sweetheart! Aren't you supposed to be warming up?" Andrea asked.

"Mom, you didn't? Halley was one of my best friends! I can't believe you asked her to kill Natalia! I know you were drunk but I didn't actually think you'd go through with getting someone to kill her! You destroyed that girl's future! How could you?" Sophia said, tears streaming down her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Andrea said, her eyes going frantic.

"Yes you do. How could you? I know I complained about her but come on, mom!"

"Sweetheart, she destroyed any chance of you playing the piano, or the guitar ever again! You needed that hand to play and she just shut down your dream! Then dancing was all you had left and she tried to steal that away too." Andrea explained.

Gregory nodded, "we just wanted what's best for you, honey, and you're our little girl. We've always wanted what's best for you ever since you were born."

"Bullshit! You weren't even there! I found the adoption papers when I was looking for something for a school project back in seventh grade. I'm not even really your kid and you still would get someone to kill someone just cause they had an ego and thought they were better than me? That's so low, really really low." She put her face in her hands and backed up against the wall and slid down it, crying.

Kate stood there, holding Halley's arms behind her back, her eyes widened at the confession, "Rick, hold her," she passed Halley off to Castle and walked up to Sophia's parents, Sophia slowly looked up at the sound of Kate's boots, she ducked her head back into her hands, hearing the cliché click of handcuffs go around each of her parent's wrist and Kate reading them their rights. Then she heard nothing, just the thump from the percussion of the dance in the auditorium.

A few minutes later she heard the now familiar click of boots coming towards her, "Sophia. Sophia we need you to go down to the station and make a statement," Kate said, holding her hand out for the young girl, Sophia reached out with her left hand and slowly took it. She stood up carefully, afraid she'd just fall right back down into a hole of despair if she got up too quickly. Sophia looked down and saw she didn't have any shoes on and laughed quietly, it was more a bitter laugh. She was getting ready to start her new life but without shoes on.

"I need to go get my shoes on, give me a minute?" Sophia asked quietly and Kate nodded. Sophia walked back to the door that led back stage and went inside and got her things and slipped off her jazz shoes and back into her TOMS. She grabbed her bag and padded back outside to a waiting Kate. She slowly walked with the older woman and took a deep breath. She got in the back of Kate's car and put her bag beside her. Sophia looked out the window and then at Kate who was in the driver's seat in front of her, "have you ever lost a parent, Detective Beckett?"

"Yeah… my mom." Kate whispered, thinking about her mother's ring that hung around her neck.

"I'm sorry." She whispered her voice thick.

"It was a long time ago." Kate said, trying to bury the topic.

Sophia only nodded and didn't say a thing for the rest of the trip to the precinct.

Sophia sat down in the chair next to Kate's desk looking at her feet, and then the smell of coffee entered her nose, full on. Not just the classic smell of coffee and donuts, no like it was coming straight at her. Sophia looked up and saw Castle put a cup of coffee in front of her. "Shhh, it's Beckett cup, I washed it out and whatnot, but I figured that you, like I probably would end up pouring the coffee all over yourself if you used one of the plastic ones with the stupid little handles that are a piece of crap." This brought a smile to Sophia's face and she looked up at him, eyes twinkling.

"Thanks," was all she said and took a sip of coffee, "this is really good, and exactly how I drink my coffee, how did you know?"

Castle gave her a look, "lucky guess," he said quickly, _'or you know, how Beckett drinks it.'_ He told himself.

"Well, very good guess," she took another sip and saw Beckett coming towards them.

"Looks like that legally, the case is solved and whatnot but the bad news is that you're gonna have to stay put, everyone at Social Services is gone for the evening and anyone that is there probably isn't going to be happy about this last minute thing, so, do you have any family you could stay with?" Kate asked.

"No, none that don't live on the other side of the country…" She bit her lip, "I could crash in your guys' break room if that's okay." She said, trying to help the situation.

Kate looked at Castle, "we're not going to wish upon you the uncomfortable chairs," Kate said, "I'll be right back," she turned on her heel and into Gates's office.

She came back minutes later and started collecting her stuff, "c'mon, you can stay with me for the night," she said, "and then on Monday when they open back up we'll get you where you need to go."

Sophia shot up, "Detective Beckett, I couldn't do that to you; I don't want to impose…" She insisted.

"No it's fine; I cleared it with my boss and trust me she's a tough nut to crack." Beckett smirked, "we can stop by your house if you need to pick up stuff."

"Really, I could probably stay with my boyfriend, it's fine." She pulled out her phone.

Kate shook her head, "it's alright, it'll just be for a night and trust me I don't really like company," she shot her gaze to Castle and looked back at the young brunette.

Sophia sighed; she wasn't going to win this one. "Okay," she said quietly and got her bag.

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><p>"So this is casa de Beckett, spare bedroom's that way and really, it's pretty open so everywhere is pretty easy to find. Bathroom's down the hall from the bedroom, on your left." Beckett dropped her jacket on the couch and sat down. "You hungry? I could order pizza or Chinese?"<p>

Sophia shook her head, "I'm not really hungry." She bit her lip, "I think I'm just going to get changed and sleep." Sophia walked towards the spare bedroom, " and Detective Beckett? Thanks." She smiled weakly and turned around again.

"Hey, Sophia, there's probably something edible somewhere in this apartment so if you get hungry and I'm asleep, just help yourself but if I'm still up, just tell me what you want if you wanna order something." Kate told her.

"Okay," she threw over her shoulder and disappeared down the hall.

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><p>Kate heard a knock on her door and walked to answer it, there on the other side stood Castle with two bags of Chinese food, "hi, Castle."<p>

"It's later," he said and walked in.

"We are not talking about this. Sophia is in the other room." Kate said and shut the door, rolling her eyes in the process.

Castle sat the food down, "teenager, plus food equals…" Sophia popped her head out from the hallway and into the open doorframe.

"Is that Chinese?" She asked and walked out in a 'Paladin School of the Arts' loose fitting tee and plaid pajama pants.

"Yes," Kate said with a sigh, "Castle brought it."

"Oh wow! That's a lot of Chinese food." She said with a huge grin. Food could really keep her mind off things.

Castle smiled at her, "help yourself," he gestured.

Sophia looked through the bag and picked out a box of noodles and two egg rolls, "Thanks so much Mr. Castle! And umm, mind if I grab a plate and just in the bedroom? I promise not to get this everywhere! I was just umm…"

"Go ahead, I trust ya," Kate said with a smile as Sophia walked back to the room.

"That girl has wonderful timing." Castle said with a smirk. He picked out his food and went to sit on Kate's couch, "Kate, we really need to talk, please."

Kate closed her eyes and sat next to him, "Castle, I want to be with you, I think that kiss obviously proved that, it's just there's more to that wall I talked about." She sighed and looked down at her lap, "almost eighteen years ago, I got pregnant, my boyfriend was supportive and all but then when I was about five months along, he died in a car accident. I just… I don't know. I was distraught and whatnot and I stressed and I arranged an adoption but the parents bailed and I never knew why and just… after I gave birth to her and took her back to my college dorm… I tried to take care of her, I did but I just couldn't provide for her, I tried asking my parents and they helped but I didn't want them to just hand me things and so when she was about three weeks old, I went into a real estate office, owned by Gregory Macgregor to try and maybe get a better living space for my daughter and I and I just… I still had hospital bills to pay and I left her there, I chickened out and I just left her there in the car seat. I wrote a letter not to contact me and let her go to a good home and I regret it each and every day, Castle, each and every day."

Castle sat back and looked at her, "do you think?..." He saw Kate nod when he gestured to where Sophia was.

"Her name was Sophia, I hoped she'd end up wise beyond her years and that's what happened. I have an incredible daughter, Castle, I saw her dance, she's just… wow. And I can never tell her." Kate whispered.

Castle's eyes widened, "why not?"

"How do you think she's going to take me abandoning her after what happened today? She'd hate me."

"It never hurt to try; maybe explaining what you explained to me might help." He reached over and covered her hand with his, "I'll wait for however long you're ready especially if you're thinking about embarking on parenthood, especially to a teenager. Those were some hard years between Alexis and I so I know what you might go through. Know that I'm still here for you, whether I'm your boyfriend or anything more than a friend to you or not." Castle told her, reassuringly.

"Thanks, Castle, that means a lot," she leaned over and hugged him, it felt nice to hug him, she felt it was long overdue.

Castle's hand took root in her hair as they hugged and the other was on her lower back. "You're welcome."

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><p>Sophia rested her head against the wall next to the doorframe, Detective Beckett was her mother?<p> 


	3. At the Beginning

**A/N: Hi! So this took a little bit longer than expected because I had newspaper production this week but here it is! I hope you enjoy it! Sorry it's shorter than the other two chapters but I have loads of things planned for this story! Oh by the way since we now know how Linchpin went this story is no longer AU to Pandora and Linchpin and pretty much takes place after "Once Upon a Crime". If any of you follow me on tumblr (rookandheat) I apologize for my insanity about this fic last week, I watched Lucky Stiff for the first time and my head went a bit nutso. So yeah. Anyways! Onto the story. By the way, this chapter is dedicated to my lovely fan of this fic/new friend/Jane to my Maura, Vildus**. **I hope you like the chapter sweetie!**

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><p>Sophia smiled as she smelled the heating up of a skillet and the smack of a wooden spoon to a bowl. She crossed her arms; phone gripped in her left hand and walked into the kitchen, "hi," she piped. Should she just outright say that she heard them last night? That she knows Kate is her mother? No. That would ruin the mood of the morning. She would wait; see if Kate brought it up, yes she'd go with that.<p>

Kate looked up at Sophia as she walked in and laughed a little, "morning! Sleep okay?" She asked, she tried to keep her cool, if it were up to Kate's innermost thoughts and feelings she'd drop what she was doing and hug her daughter tight and tell her everything.

"Yeah," she slowly nodded and took a seat on the bar stool, "so, did Mr. Castle stay over?" Sophia asked with a smirk, pretending to look around for him.

Kate shook her head with a smirk, "no, Mr. Castle did not stay over, sorry to disappoint."

Sophia mocked disappointment and rested her chin her palm, "so, nothing's going on between you two?"

"No, not yet," Kate said and stirred the batter some more.

"Yet?" She asked with a smile.

Kate sighed, "There are some things that we need to sort out first," she told her.

Sophia held up her hands in defeat, "alright fair enough."

"So," Kate said and poured some batter onto the skillet, "tell me about yourself," she put down the bowl and dusted off her hands, "have you always loved dancing?

Sophia sighed a little, "yeah I guess so, I always used to dance around my parent's living room and then they enrolled me in pretty much everything artsy, well I mean… they got me into piano and guitar lessons and dance lessons too. I guess my dancing was my main focus, especially after what Natalia did to my hands. Though, I always used to be just as driven as they used to make me, I was a lot like Natalia till about 2009, 2010 I guess, the lines society set slowly blurred and if that hadn't have happened, I probably wouldn't be as happy as I am in life. What I was driven to do, dancing, slowly became not something I did because I wanted to strive to be the best at it, I did it because I loved it, I do love it, it's my passion and it's about all I'm good at…" She bit her lip, "my next goal is to find my parents, I know they abandoned me but…"

Kate's head shot up after she flipped the pancakes, "how do you know that your parents abandoned you?"

"Well…" She sighed, just tell her the truth Sophia! "I craved mushu pork." She carried on, "And I knew that you, being a single mom, wanted me to have a better life."

"I did and I still do," Kate said, her eyes misting over.

Sophia reached over and held Kate's hand in one of hers, "that's why I want to stay with you." She whispered. She looked down at the skillet, "now flip the goddamn pancakes before they're ruined by our blubbering you burning them."

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><p>They ended up with three fluffy pancakes each and Sophia took her first bite and a huge grin formed on her face, "this is SO good!" She exclaimed, "Who knew my mom would be such a good cook."<p>

"Thanks, years of practice, and my mom was a pretty great cook too." She said and picked at her own pancakes.

Sophia giggled and bit into her pancakes again, "well, let's hope if I try to cook some time, I don't suck. I would hate to break the Beckett women tradition…" She laughed and looked up at her mother. "So, if I was that wall that had to be broken down before you got with Mr. Castle, are you gonna now?"

Kate cleared her throat at Sophia's question, "no… umm my mom… I didn't just lose her, she was murdered about 13 years ago and there's so many unanswered questions that I just, I don't know… I feel like they need to be answered before I can have that kind of relationship with, Castle…" she gulped as if she needed to swallow air for strength, "and I'm not being completely honest with him either, last year, I was shot and right before I went unconscious, I heard him say he loves me and he doesn't know I know and I'm afraid everything's gonna go to Hell when he knows that I know and we try something…"

Sophia looked down at her lap, utterly speechless, she didn't know exactly what to say to her mother, but she tried anyways, "If he makes you happy then who cares what else happens? If you two have each other, you can make it through. Together."

Kate was honestly touched at her daughter's words, it really helped her out, probably more than Sophia had anticipated, "well," she said trying to change the subject, "I remember last night you mentioned you had a boyfriend? Hm? Tell me about him." She said and nudged her daughter's elbow with her own.

Sophia blushed and ducked her head, careful not to get her dark curls in the syrup, "yeah… his name is Ty. We've been dating since August. Him and Natalia had a summer fling and she dumped him cause he, according to her, 'didn't come from good enough money.' And one day, after class, he came to get back something of his from Natalia and she pulled a drama queen on him and we met and he asked me out on a date two days later. He makes me happy, mom, so happy." She let it slip, she had called Kate "mom".

"Sophia, you don't have to call me mom right away," Kate said, a little flabbergasted.

"Like I've said before, I wanna start over fresh in my life and that includes who I call mom." She replied with a genuine smile.

Kate returned the smile, "okay but he better make you really happy cause if he upsets you I will find a way to arrest him. That's a promise." Kate joked.

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><p>"So, I guess that's a no on trying to get you and Castle together, right?" Sophia said as they started to finish their breakfast.<p>

Kate scoffed playfully, "yes," though she couldn't help the smile on her face.

"What do you want to do today? Wanna hunt down some pictures of me growing up? Off to solve another murder?" Sophia looked at her mother quizzically.

"I'll take a raincheck on the pictures and no, it's my day off." She got up and carried their now empty plates to the sink and ran the water over them before leaving them for later. Right now, she wanted to bond with her daughter.

Sophia nodded, "wanna see a picture of Ty?" Sophia said as she swung her legs gently against the bar stool.

"Yes! I need to make sure he's attractive enough to date my daughter." She laughed and assumed her place again on the bar stool next to Sophia. "Just kidding, but yes, I'd love to see a picture of him, Sophia."

Sophia picked up her phone from the countertop and slid her finger across the touchscreen to unlock her phone and typed in the code. Sophia then clicked on the picture app and scrolled through it to one of her favorite pictures; she selected it and showed it to her mom, "here we go. This is Ty and I in front of the Empire State Building. That's our one month." She blushed a little and bit her lip, remembering the day.

Kate took her daughter's phone to get a better look at the pictures, "that's so romantic! You two are so sweet together." She sighed happily, "but do you have any other pictures of him that could give me a better view of his face instead of me seeing it swallowed by your mouth?" Kate asked, trying not laugh hysterically.

Sophia gasped and took her phone back from her mother, "that's not funny, mom!" She rolled her eyes and flipped through the pictures some more and found one of just Ty that she took in Central Park; she showed it to Kate and smiled at her reaction.

"Wow… he looks like he's got it bad for you. He's good looking too… he's a keeper, Sophia," Kate said and sat back a little.

"He is, I love him so much. We said "those three words" about two months ago and now a day doesn't go by that we don't say them." Sophia said, smiling fondly at the picture of Ty on her phone. Her phone vibrated in her hand and she laughed, "speak of the devil!" She said and clicked to answer the text message from him.

Kate's phone started to ring just after Sophia got the text message from Ty, "excuse me for a sec," Kate got up and went over to her phone on the coffee table. She sat down on the couch and answered, "Beckett."

"Guess where I am?" Castle said as he pulled up to Kate's apartment building.

"Castle, I swear if you are outside of my apartment I will press charges against you." She said sarcastically.

He frowned, "but Kaaaaaatttteeeee, I was gonna have us watch horror films on your day off." He whined like a little boy, as per usual.

"No, Castle, this IS my day off and I want to spend it getting to know my daughter." Kate replied.

"Ah so our little miss dance-a lot found out? How so?" Castle said and started to put his car in drive again, a little disappointed.

Kate ran her fingers through her curls, "she overheard us talking last night and put the pieces together," Kate sighed, "Castle… you're gonna wait, in some way, shape or form for me right? I just… I wanna get into the swing of being a mom to her again and doing it right this time, before I even think about us being more than we are right now." Kate bit her lip, hoping for an answer that didn't break her heart into two.

"Always." He said simply.

"Thank you, Rick," she whispered, she normally didn't use his first name but, with them getting to a more personal level, far more personal than before, she felt she needed to start using it more frequently. Kate swallowed and looked up to see Sophia smirking, "Rick, I gotta go umm, I'll talk to you later," she didn't know why she sounded like such an emotional person as of last night and this morning but maybe it was because Sophia coming back into her life, and giving her that push to be with Castle was first wrecking ball to that wall she held up so strongly. And surprisingly, she was okay with it.

"Okay, Kate, talk to you later," he ended the call, feeling good about what place they were at and what place they would be at in the future.

Sophia sat down next to Kate on the couch and placed a hand on her knee, "so, what do you wanna do today, Ferb?"

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><p><strong>AN2: So! That's the chapter, hope ya like it! Reviews are always appreciated! They really keep me motivated to write! Next week, starting Wednesday I will be going to Washington DC for six days with my AP US class so that means probably not gonna have a new chapter for about another week and a half. So sorry 33 I will, whenever I'm in the hotel room before I go to sleep, probably be working on the fic long hand like I've been doing so it won't take me as long to update as I would if I had to write the entire thing onto word. **

**Marisa  
><strong>


	4. What's a trial date?

**A/N: I know I said you'd have to wait like about a week and a half but I just got so inspired tonight so two chapters in two days! Though I make no promises about this happening again... I'm easily distracted and a big procrastinator. Haha. But yes, enjoy chapter four.**

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><p><strong>April 2012<strong>

"Just sign right here and you'll officially be Sophia Beckett." The clerk said and Sophia glanced over at her mother, excitement and anxiety taking over both women's features.

Sophia raised her left hand to pick up the pen and signed it. There. Legally she was Sophia Beckett. Now to get everything switched to that name. Her driver's license, her school ID, her passport, damn, this was going to be a lot of work but it would be so worth it. She stood and shook the clerk's hand, trying to contain her excitement and walked out with her mom, on the steps of the courthouse, she threw her arms around Kate in an almost bear hug. Yes. Everything was falling into place now. Sophia felt tears in her eyes but didn't care, she didn't want to contain herself now, and they were tears of joy after all.

"Whoa hey, calm down, so excited I see." Kate pulled back a little to wipe the tears away from her daughter's eyes and giggled softly, "alright Sophia Beckett, let's make a day of this, let's go shopping, let's get some of your stuff transferred over, everything. C'mon," Kate broke the hug and walked with her daughter to their car.

Sophia got inside after Kate and sat back with a happy sigh. "Wow, so, I heard you and Castle talking last night and I heard the word date. Care to explain that?"

Kate rolled her eyes and looked over at her daughter, remembering the conversation with Castle she had the night before.

_Kate was just finished doing yoga as her cell phone rang. She took a gulp of her water bottle and swallowed before answering. "Beckett."_

"_Hey, Kate," Castle said in his smooth tone._

"_Hi, Castle," she greeted back and moved to sit down on her couch, "what's up?"_

_Rick rolled a stress ball he had received for his birthday from Martha many moons ago and smiled, "I was thinking… well, I have a proposition for you. Whether it's two days or two months after this that we were to go out on an actual first date… I was thinking we have a trial date, this Saturday." He explained._

"_Trial date? Hmm… we better not be having "trial sex" afterwards is all I have to say." She countered._

_Rick laughed, a hearty laugh, "deal. So it's a yes? You'll go out on a date with me?"_

"_Trial date, Castle. Trial date." She smiled brightly and rolled her eyes. Kate hung up before he could say more._

"So yes, we're going out on a trial date a week from tomorrow." Kate said, minding that today was in fact Saturday and in just eight measly days she'd be probably on one of the best dates of her life. Thank goodness for Sophia's spring break or lord knows Kate would drive herself mad with this if she didn't get to tell Sophia without the worries of school.

Sophia looked proudly at her mother, "I thought you were gonna wait till some more questions about your mom's case are answered…" She bit her lip, "not that I'm complaining, I'm really happy for you, mom. But what changed your mind? You're obviously adjusted to being a mom to me, well somewhat I suppose, but yes, what?"

Kate sighed and thought on it, "I guess I just… with Castle… I don't feel like that case is a noose around my neck and I know he's hidden stuff before about it but I've forgiven him and maybe this trial date will lead to me telling him I heard him saying he loves me. Besides… those questions may not get answered for YEARS. I don't wait that long and risk the chance of losing him to someone else."

Sophia smiled, her mom had made a lot of progress in two months, she knew her mom probably wouldn't be ready for full on dating Castle but this was a great start, "that's great, mom, and by the way, it's a must that I help you decide what you're going to wear on your date."

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><p>Kate bit into the pizza, fresh and delicious. Yup. She was ordering pizza more often. It was nice for a change and Sophia told her if she saw one more take out box she'd just throw them all out the window of the apartment. Though it made Kate laugh then and shrug it off, she was albeit scared Sophia would keep her word on it.<p>

"So, today, I wake up and I have this text from Ty saying 'If only my alarm clock was you, then I'd be willing to get out of bed each morning.' It was so freaking cute, I called him and told him to get his ass out of bed. And he recorded it. My boyfriend scares me sometimes…" Sophia said with a laugh as she sat down her slice of pizza, well it was a slice of pizza, now all that remained was the crust.

Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head, young love, corny and cheesy all around. "Nice. Let's just hope Castle and him don't meet too soon or Ty may give him way too many ideas…" Kate said and her phone started to chirp inside her pocket. She pulled it out and answered, "Beckett."

"Kate? This is Martha, Richard is in the shower so I thought I'd be a good opportunity to ask you before he could protest. I was wondering, and I apologize for the short notice, if you and your lovely daughter would be willing to come over for dinner tonight. I would love to finally meet Sophia, Richard hasn't showed me so much as a picture of the poor girl so I would very much love to meet her."

Kate looked at the clock, they could still make it, but that would mean abandoning this heavenly pizza. Oh well, cold pizza was pretty good too, "one second, let me ask Sophia." Kate covered the phone and looked at her daughter, "would you want to go over to Castle's tonight for dinner, him mom really wants to meet you."

Sophia's brows knitted together and she sat back on the couch, "sure, why not." She said semi-reluctantly.

"Sophia, we don't have to go if you don't want to." Kate told her.

She shook her head, "no I'll go. Maybe it won't be so bad. I just don't want to really do anything too productive tonight after all the shopping and stuff we did today." She sighed.

Kate laughed, "we'll be there when, Martha?"

"7:30, sharp," Martha replied.

"Okay see you then," Good, it gave them two hours, give or take to get ready. Kate hung up the call and stood, "go get in something other than sweats." She said, nudging towards her daughter's dressed down attire.

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><p>Kate stood awkwardly at the Castle's loft door and swayed a little back and forth, waiting for someone to answer the door.<p>

Sophia stood even more awkward, partially due to anxiety and twisted and moved her right hand to ensure it didn't spasm or shake like it did at times due to the accident with Natalia the year before.

Suddenly, the door nearly flew open and Martha appeared on the other side, Kate barely took a step in before being crushed into a loving hug and when Martha spotted Sophia she released Kate only to hug Sophia in the same fashion. "Oh! You look so much like your mother!" Martha said as she pulled back a bit, she then cupped the young brunette's cheeks and studied her features, "nope, Kate didn't make this one with my son, shame." Martha patted Sophia's left cheek and walked away.

Sophia's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped, "what was that?" Sophia whispered to Kate, still in utter shock.

Kate motioned for her to just wave it off just as Castle came in the room and Kate smiled. "Hi." She told him.

Rick walked up to Kate and placed a hand on her waist. "Hey," he leaned down and kissed her lips gently and chastely but as they pulled back Sophia's expression got even more shocked.

"Wow. I know you guys were doing a trial date but… trial couple? I don't think I've ever heard that." She said sarcastically.

Kate tucked herself into Castle's side and rolled her eyes, "yes well, we're original so deal with it," she said playfully.

Sophia laughed and looked around the loft, "nice place ya got here, Castle." She walked further into the loft and sat down on the couch, "when's dinner?" She asked and looked behind her at the kitchen.

"Soon, hopefully mother won't burn it. She's got Alexis's help," Rick said as he moved to sit down on the couch as well, with Kate.

Sophia bit her lip, "do you guys need any help?" Sophia called to behind her as she turned her upper half around to face the kitchen.

"No, no! We're fine, just sit there and relax, dinner shall be ready in ten minutes. Tops. Don't let Richard tell you any different." Martha insisted.

Sophia giggled and turned back around, "well… got any board games. I feel like we're gonna be here for a while."

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><p>"Well, Richard, if I do say so for myself, I am very excited that you and Beckett have decided to FINALLY admit your feelings for each other. Took you long enough," Martha said and took a generous sip of her wine.<p>

Rick felt for Kate's hand underneath the dinner table and intertwined their fingers, "thank you, mother," he said with a slight grimace. "I'd like to propose a toast however to a different occasion. Today, Sophia went from a Macgregor to a Beckett." Castle stood up, and raised his glass, "to Sophia." He clinked glasses with the three other people at the dinner table with him and sat back down.

"So, Alexis, your dad tells me you're off to college soon, do you know what you're gonna major in?" Sophia asked after she too a celebratory sip of her water.

Alexis nodded, "probably something related to the medical field. I really liked shadowing Doctor Parish and so I'll probably end up doing something in the medical field. What that is though, I really don't know which worries me to death."

Sophia smiled, "nice." She nodded and took a bite of her dinner, after she swallowed, "so I remember about goodness maybe three years, I went to one of Castle's book reading, I think it was for his last Derrick Storm novel, Storm Falls and I remembering chit chatting with you, you haven't changed a bit." Sophia said to Alexis, "and I remember saying something about how on earth does Castle have such a mature daughter when he has such a reputation for being a big ole kid." She laughed.

Kate's brow furrowed, "why were you there?"

"Oh! Umm… the Gregory Macgregor owned the building the book reading was in." She laughed, "so I had to go because they dragged me there. I looked terrible. I had this completely straight hair and these god awful bangs." She ducked her head in embarrassment.

Kate wracked her memory, seeing just a glimpse of her daughter back then excited Kate. Oh the irony.

"Why do you ask?"

"Cause I was the reason Castle got all flustered towards the end of the reading."

Sophia nearly choked on her water, "that was you! Your hair was so short back then! Oh my god, you look totally different now, that's so crazy! I can't believe I saw my own mother and didn't even realize it. That's crazy. Stupid universe!" She said in a mock aggravated tone.

Kate laughed, "yeah, stupid universe."

Martha piped in, "Speaking of the past, remember the time you two went undercover, Richard told me all about your dancing skills, Kate. No wonder I've heard Sophia is a talented dancer," she slurred, polishing off her glass of wine.

Sophia looked over at Alexis, hoping she knew what Martha was talking about but Alexis just shrugged.

"Anyways… Alexis… it's going to be so nice to have a step-sister so close in age, right?" Martha said, pouring herself another glass of wine.

Alexis's eyes widened and she pushed back from the table, mumbling about wanting to be excused.

Drunk Martha, upset Alexis. This was going to be a long night.

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><p><strong>AN: OMG drunk Martha was such a hoot to write. I feel like I even had to censor myself a bit. But yes. Like I said, chapter five probably gonna take a while. Ummm... def after my DC trip so yeah. Maybe when chapter 4 was expected is when you'll see chapter five. I say that loosely though. Haha. Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated.**

**Marisa  
><strong>


	5. Everything Changes

**A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter! Fluff then a bit of angst! I am back from DC as of yesterday. Wow I can't believe I got it out in one day. Enjoy! :D**

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><p>Sophia walked through the apartment door at 3:05pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon in June; she ran a hand through her newly colored red locks and smiled. She hoped her mom like it the new hair color or else she was dead meat.<p>

She did it on a whim really. Her friends were telling her about how they wanted their hair like this celebrity or more like this other celebrity and Sophia suggested they all go to the hair salon and get something done with their hair. Sophia, the only one not wanting her hair mimicking an idolized celeb, opted to just get her hair dyed but not too drastic of a change. She tried to just get it to a lighter brown she had had once years before but her friends remembered that hair color well and pushed her to try and dye it something fresh and brand new for her. Red. She told her friends it wouldn't look like Lucille Ball's hair or something (and yes, she had to explain who Lucille Ball was) but they didn't listen and so her she was, with her hair looking a similar color to a red velvet cupcake.

Sophia sat down on the couch and looked at the book on the coffee table _Heat Rises_. She hadn't read any of the Nikki Heat novels since she found out Kate was her mother. She laughed to herself, admiring the character of Nikki Heat for the past almost three years and there was the inspiration, her own mother. But maybe it was certain things in the book that made Sophia uncomfortable reading now. The Rook and Heat sex scenes. Sophia knew they weren't graphic, hell she read them many a times while re—reading the series again and again but now that she had concrete faces to the names and the face of Nikki was her mother, oh dear lord, it was like picturing Kate and Rick having sex! And that's what disturbed her the most.

Sophia heard the clicks and turns of a key opening the door to the apartment and in walked her mother, Castle in tow. Now this was odd, yes she knew that their trial date went off without a hitch and after things with Castle's mother and daughter got settled everything was going great and the families blended well together… Her mother was in the middle of a case, why did she need to stop back by the apartment? And then she saw the blood…

"Holy shit, mom! Are you shot?" Sophia rushed over to her mother's side gave her a once over. She looked a little banged up, like she was chasing a suspect to the end of the world but no constant flow of blood.

Kate shook her head, "I'm fine, just some cuts and bruises, and this isn't my blood. I need to grab a change of clothes and then head back… I would have called you to bring me some but you weren't answering your… oh my god what did you do to your hair!"

Sophia scratched some hair that was behind her ear and her eyes shifted back and forth, "got it dyed…" She said.

"Why? Why didn't you ask me?" She said, Kate's mom mode was activated.

Sophia sucked in her cheeks and nibbled on her bottom lip, "cause I knew you'd be busy with the case?" She tried, nope, just got a glare. "I umm… wanted to surprise you, my friends and I went out and got our hair done cause they were talking about wanting their hair like certain celebs and I was the only one that didn't say anything like that so they said I should get it dyed, and I did." She waved the ends of her new red locks.

"You should have asked me first, Sophia, you're seventeen…"

"And I'm turning eighteen this year, I'm practically an adult, can't you give me that freedom? It's not like I got it all shaved off into some sort of GI Jane-do. It's dyed; I can dye it back if you want me to." She swallowed hair, she had made maybe too much of an impulsive decision.

Kate looked at her daughter, she was partially right, even though Kate didn't like Sophia going behind her back like that, "alright, you don't have to dye it back. I like the color; it reminds me of red velvet." She smiled weakly.

Sophia giggled, "That's what I thought too." She brushed some hair back out of her eyes, "I'm sorry I went behind your back though."

"It's fine. Just don't do something like that again, okay?" Kate put a hand on her hip.

"Understood." She nodded. Kate disappeared off to get a change of clothes put in a duffle bag and Sophia turned to Castle, "why are you here with my mother? She's the one that needs the change of clothes, not you." She poked him in the chest.

Castle mocked hurt, "because, I was with her at the time and no one would give me a ride back to the precinct. Lanie had two bodies in the coroner's van, plus herself and Ryan and Espo were making arrests and interviewing people so I just thought I'd tag along with your mom. There's nothing wrong with that is there?" He asked sarcastically.

Sophia rolled her eyes playfully, "no, but while my mom gets her clothes, I'd like to say one thing to you and one thing only." She looked behind her to make sure her mom couldn't hear and wasn't in the line of sight, "now that you and my mom are officially dating, you hurt her and you will never see the light of day again. I'm extremely protective of my mother, I don't want to see her hurt, she opens up rarely and to only certain people and you're one of those people so don't take that for granted because so help me God…"

"I won't see the light of day again, I got it." He held up his hands in defense, "now I'm going to say one thing to you," he started, "I love you mother so much, I just want to see the best in her shine, and I don't mean to sound like an egomaniac but I feel like I can bring out the best in her and have it shine brighter than the sun."

Sophia smiled, she appreciated his words and they put her a little less on edge about her mother dating but the last part made her laugh, "wow, shine brighter than the sun, seriously? Are you sure you're a best-selling author? Cause I can smell the cheese."

Rick laughed sarcastically, "oh hahahaha, cute, you hang around your mother too much." He looked past Sophia and saw Kate walk in, holding a small tote bag, that held the change of clothes. "Well, nice chatting with you," Rick said and walked to the door, he held it open for Kate and she walked over quickly, not wanting to keep him waiting too long she quite frankly wanted to get back to the precinct, that was the safest place besides home, but home was so open…

"What were you and Castle talking about?" She asked as she walked past Sophia.

"Nothing, mom, oh nothing." She said with a giggle.

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><p>"Okay now move just a little more closer together, think "what personal space?" Yes, that's good. Now move to your right, my left just a smidge. There, perfect." Sophia said and looked at them through the lens.<p>

The two families had decided to spend a week in the Hamptons, the vacation, Sophia and Martha's idea, the location, Castle's. It took a lot of convincing to get Alexis and Kate to tag along, Alexis wanted to prepare for school in the fall and Kate didn't want to take off time from work even though she had enough vacation days that she could use up. It was for that reason Kate went and getting some travel promising to take an in-depth tour of the city for educational purposes was what sold Alexis. So here they were, the Beckett-Castle family, blended in nearly every way except marriage.

Rick had his arms securely around Kate's waist, his intertwined fingers over Kate's flat stomach. Kate placed her hands in the same manner on top of Castles and looked at the camera, it was yes, a little hot out for their attire, Castle in an informal suit and Kate in a black dress but they would soon retreat back inside for some alone time while Sophia, Alexis and Martha went to tan on the beach.

Sophia smiled, the pictured was perfect, she snapped a few takes of it and looked them over, the middle was her favorite but she'd let them see them as well , "okay here they are," she flipped through the five takes she took as they looked over her shoulder.

"I like the middle one." Kate said.

"Me too," she smiled bright, "but I like the last one too, I dunno… I just… it's your guys' picture, you decide," she laughed and handed Kate the camera, "I'm gonna head inside and change for the beach, I'll come and get my camera before I head out." She hurried off to her room, leaving Kate and Rick on the back porch.

Kate looked at her boyfriend and kissed him gently, "which one do you like?" She asked.

"The last one, you look beautiful in all of them though," he kissed her temple, "why don't we just head back inside?" He asked and snaked an arm around her waist. He ushered her off into the house and dropped the camera by Sophia's door. He led Kate down towards the end of the hall and into the master bedroom. It was huge, a similar huge in comparison to the size of Sophia's bedroom when she lived with the Macgregors. Rick plopped onto the bed and pulled Kate with him into his lap, them both laughing in the process, "I think that we should have a no clothing rule in this bedroom," he whispered in her ear.

Kate's eyes widened and she got up, closing the door and then ran, pouncing on Castle, "okay," she started nibbling on his ear and then kissed along his jawline till she found his lips and captured them in a searing kiss.

Rick's hands found their way to Kate's ass and he cupped her behind, pushing her more to him. His hands traveled up to the zipper on her dress and pulled it down, still locked in her passionate kiss. He pulled the dress from her and cupped her cheeks, "I love you." He told her and flipped them over.

* * *

><p>Kate rested her head on Rick's chest and sighed happily, "that was well worth the wait." She whispered, her heart still hammering in her chest.<p>

Castle chuckled, it vibrated throughout his body, "yeah, I can't believe I kept my hands off you like that since almost May."

"It was only two and a half months, Rick; I didn't want us to rush things, especially with us having such a delicate relationship. This is all new to me. Yes I was with Josh but Josh was a safe person to love, with you I had to risk it all, putting my mother's case behind me, balancing motherhood to a teenager and loving you all at once. And now that I'm with you, I don't ever want to part from you." She buried her face in his chest, her long brown curls covering his chest.

"Hey now, this was definitely worth the wait, and I understand. I know that you've told me you heard me say that I love you and I'm grateful you told me. I just want to keep you safe. I really always have something inside me made me feel that way. And along the way, I feel in love. Not just because I wanted to protect you as best I could but we balance each other out so well, and we work so well together, Kate that I couldn't handle losing you." He kissed her hair and closed his eyes, "now, why don't we lay here a little longer and maybe go for round two in a little bit or even get some sun out on the beach and meet up with mother, Alexis, and Sophia."

Kate smiled. That sounded like a pretty great plan.

* * *

><p>"Sophia, this was such a lovely idea, I get to tan, Alexis tries to relax for once, my son is happy, your mother is happy, everything is perfect." Martha said as she reclined on a chair on the public beach.<p>

Sophia kept checking her phone, hoping for a text from Ty, nothing yet, "yeah, yeah, great, yeah." She sat underneath the umbrella and let her legs tan for the time being.

Martha sat up, "why are you so distracted? This is vacation! You of all people should know how to relax, this was our idea."

"Yeah, I know… I just… I haven't heard from my boyfriend in like two days, and it's worrying me. Like I don't mean to sound clingy but normally just out of sheer habit; he texts me good morning and he hasn't done that. I understand if he's too busy to call and whatnot but just him disappearing off the grid like that isn't him at all." She picked an imaginary piece of lint off her cover-up.

Martha contemplated, "listen to me, kid, he's probably just busy, when's your one year?"

"This coming August…"

"Two months! Almost there, congrats. Maybe he's planning something or maybe he's just really really busy or maybe he got ground and his rents took away his phone!" Martha reasoned.

"His dad's a pretty lax guy, and I don't really know why he'd be planning two months in advance… oh god, what if he's with someone else? What if he's cheating on me? Martha, what am I gonna do?"

"You're gonna stop worrying, that's why you're going to do. You're starting to sound like Alexis. Now, didn't you say you're going to redo your senior year at the school he goes to?"

"Yes, they told me I can't go to a regular college unless I have some normal high school education, minimum is one year." She sighed, "Maybe I can study for the test I have to take to test into all senior level classes! That'll get my mind off Ty!"

Martha gripped the sides of her hair, "no, no, no, no, no! You are going to sit here, next to me and get a tan; I just said that to get your mind off your boyfriend."

Sophia laid back, "fine," she said and closed her eyes, hopefully she didn't wake up and find a sunburn on her legs.

"Sophia? What are you doing here?" She heard a voice say, then the voice registered in her head. Sophia shot up like a rocket, hitting her head on the umbrella in the process.

"Shit!" She rubbed her head and felt a hand tug her off the chair and into a standing position. She blinked a few times and opened her eyes, "Ty!" She threw her arms around his neck and tackled him to the ground, straddling his hips, "what are doing here?" She pinned him down, "why haven't you answered any of my texts."

"Whoa, possessive…" he sighed a little, "my dad took my phone because he said that and I quote, 'on this trip that your uncle so graciously paid for us to go on with him and your cousin and aunt, you are not allowed to be distracted by your phone. This is family time.'" He sighed again, "Can you get off me now; you're starting to attract a crowd." He laughed.

Sophia scrambled to stand and helped him up, that's when she realized he was shirtless. Damn, wow, she was one lucky chick. Sophia brushed some of the sand off him and smiled, "now that I know we're in the same part of the world do you think your dad would mind if we hung out?"

"If not, we could just always sneak out at night," he playfully suggested which earned him a smack on the arm. "Ow!"

"My mom wouldn't mind… hopefully… so here's to hoping your dad wouldn't." She said and kissed him gently.

"Sophia… is this who I think it is? And from what I got from that kiss you two just had I think I'm right." Martha said, she nudged Alexis who was on the other side of her to wake up and she did.

"What, grams?" She asked, "hey Sophia, who's this?"

Sophia reached down and intertwined fingers with Ty, "this is Ty… my boyfriend." She said happily.

Ty moved his arm to wrap around Sophia and reached out to shake Martha's hand, "nice to meet you…"

"Martha Rodgers, you can call me Martha." She said and shook his hand, "nice firm shake, kid."

Sophia blushed, oh god, "sorry about her…" She whispered.

Alexis shook his hand as well, "I'm Alexis Castle." She said.

"Nice meeting you both." He dropped his hand and looked around, "where's your mom, Sophia, you've been promising I get to meet her and now that we're all here… maybe I can."

Sophia's face when red, "she's probably with her boyfriend. Maybe later though…"

* * *

><p>"Hey Kateeeee…" Rick said as he slipped on his swim trunks, "you gonna wear that swimsuit you wore in LA?" He asked playfully.<p>

"Nope!" She said as she dressed in a pink and magenta bikini.

Castle frowned, defeated, "why not?" He whined.

"Because Sophia borrowed it. It was getting a little small and it fit Sophia perfectly."

Castle's mouth went dry. Awkward.

Kate walked out and turned around in a circle for him, "I'm sure you'll like this one better." She laughed, "shows more skin." She winked and went on a hunt for her cover-up.

Rick Castle now felt like he was left in a desert with no water.

* * *

><p>"I'm dropping you in the water if you don't get in at least one," Castle said and walked with Kate. He shifted the strap to Kate's beach bag and smiled at her mischievously. He had insisted on carrying both his and hers bags and looked around for Sophia, Alexis, or Martha. He found all three of them… and a boy with his arms around Sophia. "Kate, who's that?" He motioned his head as they got closer.<p>

Kate's eyes squinted in the bright sun and turned her head a bit, "I think that's Sophia's boyfriend, Ty." She jogged ahead of Castle and laughed quietly, this would be funny. "Hey guys."

Sophia's eyes widened, "hi… mom… hi… aren't you up at the house with Castle?" She asked a little flustered.

Kate shrugged, "it's such a beautiful day outside, why waste it?" She looked at Ty, "you must be Ty, Sophia's told me so much about you." She said and held out her hand for him to shake it.

Ty nervously shook Kate's hand, "all good I hope Ms. Beckett…"

"Call me, Kate."

"Okay… Kate." He was now very nervous. Informalities this early from the mother made him very very nervous.

Castle finally caught up with them and dropped their things next to the umbrella, "hey, Ty, right? I'm Rick Castle; I'm Kate's boyfriend," he smiled, "so, what brings you to the Hamptons?"

"Rick Castle as in the author? Man, Sophia loves your books, I wanted to take her out on our first date to your book signing of _Heat Rises_ but she had a recital that day. Shame."

Castle's ego went up at least ten points, "great to know I'm first date material." He chuckled.

"Yeah… but anyways, my uncle and his family invited my dad and me, since it's just the two of us, to go to the Hamptons for about a week and a half. They paid for us to get her and go back so my dad apparently couldn't say no!"

"Great, wanna join us or do you have to get back to the family?" Castle offered.

"I'm sure, Ty needs to get back, his dad really wants to spend time with his family so…"

"Nah, I can go ask my dad real quick. Hopefully he'll say yes." Ty said.

Sophia grimaced, she realize how not ready she was for this great part of her old life to mix in with her new one.

"Sophia, you okay? Maybe you should get back in the shade, don't want you to have a heat stroke," Martha said.

"I'm fine, Martha." She said and then looked at Ty, "can I talk to you, away from them for a minute?"

"Sure," he took her hand and led them away, "what is it?"

"You didn't do anything wrong I promise, I just… they're such a… huge part of my life right now, and have been since February and I know that's been about four months and you're now meeting them but I didn't realize how not ready I was for you to meet them. It's a lot to take it on my part. It's like meeting the parents all over again. I just… I don't know. I didn't freak out this much when I met your dad and I didn't freak out this much when you met the Macgregor's. I don't know what's wrong with me but I just feel so overwhelmed." She said, hoping not to cry in public.

Ty wrapped his arms around her, "hey it'll be okay, alright? Everything's fine? You don't think I'm nervous about their impression of me? I'm the shirtless one here and coming over to see you without my shirt on and meeting your mom without my shirt on was probably not the best pick in the world." He felt her laugh against him, "but don't you worry, leave what they think of me to me and they love you a lot Sophia, I can tell, and I will never hurt you and I'm sorry it happened this way but were you gonna do? It had to happen sometime. Were you gonna wait till our wedding day or something to introduce us?" He joked.

Sophia lifted her head up, "what says I'm gonna marry you?" She asked with a smirk.

"The look in your eyes right now," he kissed her gently, "now, I think maybe for the sake of my dad not yelling at me and for the sake of you needing some time to think about all this, I think I will go back to my family and you can do the same. But I want to see you tonight. Meet me right here at about nine-ish? I hear it'll be a full moon." He brushed his lips over her forehead. "Nice one by the way."

"What?"

"Your mom's boyfriend is your favorite author, how ironic. Maybe you've seen her at signings before and never realized it." He said as they broke apart and started walking opposite directions.

"Oh you have no idea…" She sighed.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Kate! Mother is asleep and so are Alexis and Sophia. Have a little fun!" Rick tugged Kate towards the beach and when their feet touched the cool sand they laughed.<p>

"Fine but if they wake up and see us gone they're gonna come looking for us," she said and jumped a little, wrapped her legs around Castle's waist.

Rick laid them on the ground with her below him and kissed her slowly, "ever done it on a beach?"

"No, you?"

"Many times," she smacked his arm, "at least I'm being honest." He laughed.

"Alright, you got me there." She threaded her fingers in his dark hair and kissed him again. She heard giggling and footsteps so she stopped Castle's movements which so happen to be him undressing her. He was almost done too. "Rick, do you hear that?"

Castle stopped reluctantly and listened, "yeah, probably just some drunk college kids out late, now c'mon they'll be too drunk to notice." He started undressing her again but she stopped him.

"No, Rick," she squirmed underneath him and heard, _'Stop it, Ty! That tickles! How can you see my tickle spots in the dark?'_ That was definitely her daughter's voice. It was almost eleven o'clock, what was she doing out so late?

Kate got out from underneath Rick and covered herself back up. She started walking towards the noise and found Ty and Sophia laughing, on the ground. "What are you doing out so late, Sophia?" She asked.

Sophia looked up and then sat up, "mom! I'm just out with Ty, I told you that."

"No you didn't," Kate said.

"Yes I did."

"No, you didn't…"

"Actually Kate she did, I think you may not have heard her though." Castle said putting an arm around Kate's waist.

Kate looked at him in the dark, "how so?"

"Because you were a little umm… busy with me…" He scratched he back of his head.

"Oh god," Kate's face went hot.

"I knocked and all I heard was yes after I answered so I assumed you heard me." Sophia grimaced, "oh my god, ew gross." She shuddered and stood up, "c'mon Ty, let's head back…" She held his hand and started walking away. "Do you know if you can unsee something?"

* * *

><p><em>Two months later<em>

"Here's the Tyler Baker tour of New York City High School." Ty said as he walked his girlfriend through the hallway of the not high class but not run down school. He looked down at her schedule and pointed to her various classes. "We have first, second and fifth period together, this is great. What a senior year!" He said and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah," she looked up at him, public school would be different, and she hadn't experienced it since eighth grade and was excited to see what public high school was like. She held close to Ty as she walked through the crowd of people that were oh so new to her. She sighed and looked around, this would be her new school for the next nine months or so and a flood of relief filled her when she saw the guidance office, there she could discuss her classes and how things went in more depth.

She kissed Ty's cheek and disappeared off into the guidance office, the glass door shutting behind her. She walked up to the front desk and switched from foot to foot, waiting on someone to come to the front desk. Someone did walk in, a petite warm looking older woman with graying ginger hair.

"Are you Sophia Beckett?" Sophia nodded nervously and the woman motioned her back to her office.

"I'm Mrs. Leeds, I'm your guidance counselor," when they got to her office, Sophia shook her hand and sat down in the chair across from the counselor's desk. Mrs. Leeds sat down and Sophia looked around the small office. "I've read you transcripts," Mrs. Leeds said and snapped Sophia out of her thoughts.

Sophia gulped and nodded, "all good I hope."

"Yes, very very good. You tested into your senior year after not graduating from your preforming arts high school? Why is that?"

"I umm… no longer really have the financial means to go one of those liberal arts colleges and I feel as though my calling may be somewhere other than dancing." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ears, "I really really want my high school diploma." She said.

Mrs. Leeds nodded and looked at Sophia's schedule and records. "Well, we're very happy to have you here. Pretty much, our day runs like your middle school probably did just a lot more freedom umm… free seating at lunch, no going off campus unless you get a pass from the front office and you have to be back before your lunch ends. Here's our rule handbook, our disciplinary book we need you to read these and for your mother to read these and both of you need to sign these and for you to bring them back as soon as possible." Sophia took them and placed them in her lap. "Any questions?"

Sophia bit her lip, "I don't think so." She stood when Mrs. Leeds did, "thanks so much, this helps a lot."

Sophia hurried on to first period and took her seat next to Ty, and took his hand, not realizing she had a glaring audience of one.

_One Week Later_

* * *

><p>"Wow, I never thought Finding Nemo in 3D would be that cool," Sophia said as she walked out of the theatre with Ty, Kate and Castle. At first the idea of the double date had been awkward, she wanted to make it just a family night out and invite Alexis but she couldn't make it back from school in time and so they opted to turn it to a double date and invite Ty along instead.<p>

"I've never seen it and that was interesting. Why did we go see this again?"

Sophia laughed, "because we couldn't agree on anything else?" She shot to her mother. The women on the outside, their boyfriends in the middle of the four.

"Yeah well…. SOPHIA WATCH OUT!" Kate tugged Castle back to get to Sophia but Sophia already saw the car zooming down the street and pushed her mother and Ty back.

The next thing to happen felt like it was in slow motion, Sophia was hit by the car, she smacked onto the front hood and bounced to the top of the car. The car came to a halt, jerking her lifeless body back forward and she rolled onto the hood of the car and onto the ground. The car backed up and Kate reached for her sig, "NYPD police! Stop!" She said and started chasing after the car, the fact that her daughter was just hit by a car barely registering in her mind. Her eyes squinted to try to see the license plate but only got the first two numbers and general description of the vehicle. It was eight at night and her eyes were blurred with so many tears, she felt so defeated. Kate dropped to her knees and her hands shook. She dropped her gun and while Ty was at Sophia's side calling 911, Castle went and got Kate.

"Kate! Kate!" She barely could hear him, everything felt numb. "Kate! We need to get in the car and follow the ambulance to the hospital when they get here."

Kate blinked and tears fell. She nodded and blindly reached from her sig. She stood up with Rick and buried her face in his chest, "I want to see her before they take her away."

Castle nodded and walked over to Sophia's unconscious body. Kate looked and saw her daughter laying there, blood coming down from her head and several cuts on her exposed skin. Kate tried to hold back further tears and rage filled her, she'd find the bastard that did this.

* * *

><p>Kate waited in the uncomfortable chair for the fifth day in a row; she looked at her daughter, a mere foot away. Kate reached out and took her daughter's hands, she held her hand, it wasn't cold but it wasn't warm either. All the color was drawn from it, as with the rest of her daughter's body. Sophia was in a coma and had been the past five days. She hoped she woke up soon; it was killing her on the inside. When no one was around Kate would cry and cry and cry. She wouldn't even let Castle see. Ty was by her side sometimes, and so was Castle. They wanted her to wake up just as badly.<p>

Suddenly she felt movement in her hand. Kate looked down and saw Sophia squeezing her hand back. Kate shot up, "Sophia? Sophia? Can you hear me?" She brushed her daughter's hair away from her face. Kate started yelling for the doctor and Castle and Ty came running in behind the doctor. The doctor went on the other side of Sophia and looked at her vitals.

"Sophia can you hear us? Open your eyes if you can do something." He saw she was staying steady and they got the tube pulled out and prepared a glass of water. She started coughing and her eyes blinked open.

"Bright…" she croaked. She looked around at the people before her and raised her hand towards the glass of water, Kate grabbed it and held it to Sophia's lips, and Sophia took a couple sips and looked around, "who are you people?" Her brow furrowed.

"Sophia what is the year?"

"Ummmm late 2009?" She looked around the room again, "hey, you're Richard Castle. Why are you in my hospital room?"

Castle's face went red and he looked at Kate.

The doctor looked at Sophia and checked her vitals once more, "what's your name?"

"Sophia."

"Okay good so far…" He wrote something down, "do you know who that is?" He pointed to Kate.

Sophia stared at her and she sat up a little and then felt very sore so she stopped, "ummm not by name…"

"So she looks familiar?"

"Yeah… she was at a book launch for his latest novel _Heat Wave_." Sophia nodded, sure of herself.

Kate's face fell, her daughter didn't remember her.

"Sophia… that's not just some random person, that's your mother." Ty said, completely confused by the situation.

"Who are you?"

Ty's face had a similar fate as Kate's. "I'm your boyfriend, Sophia."

"You're not my boyfriend! I don't have a boyfriend, I'm not allowed to date!"

"How old do you think you are, Sophia?" The doctor asked.

"Fourteen. Fifteen in two weeks." She smiled proudly.

"Sophia, it's 2012, you're nearly eighteen years old. You were hit by a car five days ago," the doctor explained.

"No way, that can't be true. Where's the hidden cameras?" She looked around. "Why am I so sore?"

Kate looked at her daughter, "you were hit by a car!" She told her.

"I don't remember any of this. And I don't really remember any of you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN2: Aww shit! Sorry to leave you hanging like that but next chapter I will introduce a case that will tie everything in with itself. It's gonna be crazy! And have no fear, Sophia will regain her memory... eventually. :D Remember to review! They make my day. :) Much love.**

**Marisa**


	6. Stand In the Rain

**A/N: So I have absolutely no excuse for not getting this done sooner. Sorta actually maybe it's cause school was a you know what but still... now I am out for the summer! Get ready for chapter 7 soon cause I'm really excited about it.**

* * *

><p>"<em>I don't remember any of this. And I don't really remember any of you."<em>

Those words still rung in Kate's ears three hours later as she watched her daughter sleep, still not remembering a thing. She feared that if her daughter woke up again, she'd remember even less. Sophia had no memories of that first morning, when Kate made them pancakes and they really bonded. The strongest feelings of mother's intuition had settled in her heart, telling her that the girl who had sat before her was in fact the daughter she left all those years ago. It wasn't that much of a mystery really either, they shared similar features, and Sophia's _adoptive_ father was the man who's office Kate had left her in almost eighteen regrettable years ago.

And did Sophia not remember when a week later, when Kate and Sophia were sorting through Sophia's things the younger brunette just broke down crying, the reality of the situation finally settling in her mind, that her parents had really done what they had did? And now they were paying for it? Her old life; gone; her new one starting, and possibly a little faster than Sophia had wanted. So Kate held her daughter tight, enveloping Sophia in a veil of comfort; letting her sob out every anxiety she had at the moment. It was quite a cliché sight; really, they sat on the floor of Sophia's then room in the Macgregor home. It wasn't really a home now. Sophia had told Kate that home was where the heart was, and her heart was with Kate.

That hadn't been the only time Kate had made up for lost time and rocked her daughter like she should have throughout Sophia's childhood. Sophia walked through the door of their apartment-two weeks after Sophia dyed her hair-with dried tears stains. Kate was quick on her feet, holding out her arms, wanting to know what happened.

Sophia had explained that a girl, someone that had been death glaring Sophia ever since she had started school, whenever she was around Ty. It was ridiculous really; maybe if she solved her staring probably she would have had a chance with Ty. Kate had laughed when Sophia told her this. She listened intently as Sophia went on to say that the girl, Mia, had sauntered up to Ty while the couple was in the book store and felt him up. Sophia came back, the book she wanted in hand and nearly dropped it. Sophia said nothing; she turned on her heel and purchased her book. She proceeded to drive home, her vision blurring halfway through and had to pull over twice, fearing if she kept driving in the worked up state she was in, she'd cause a pretty nasty wreck.

Kate ended up making them both two cups of steaming hot chocolate and popping in Sophia's copy of 'John Tucker Must Die' the color and smile returned to Sophia's face, which brought a smile on Kate's own lips as they snuggled on the couch during the movie.

Ty and Sophia made up two days later, after Sophia got the whole story. She told her mother that she was in fact okay, everything was okay.

Kate had replied that as long as Sophia was okay, Kate was too.

_As long as Sophia was okay, Kate was too._

Sophia wasn't okay; so neither was Kate.

Kate felt a hand on her shoulder which snapped her out of her thoughts, she looked up to see Castle, "what do you want, Rick?"

Castle sat down in an uncomfortable chair next to her and took her right hand in his left, "I want you to come home with me, take a bath or hot shower, get in fresh clothes, get decent food in you and sleep."

"You know I can't do any of these things with her just lying there."

"I know but you should. Ty said he'd sit in here and watch her while you're gone. Should anything happen he'll call or text us." Rick brushed his lips over her temple, "please, and if you want to cry, kick, or scream; feel free to do it at my loft. Don't shove these feelings down so deep that you don't even remember where you put them. You have me, you have my mother, you have Alexis…"

She cut him off, "no, I really don't. I lost my mom, my dad and I sort of speak but not recently, Sophia's dad's gone, and now Sophia doesn't even remember that I'm her mother. You're all I have left, Castle, which granted isn't a _bad_ thing but it's really just… it's just really hard on me. She doesn't remember when I've taken her when she got the flu, when Mama Beckett came out after her and Ty had a fight and was ready with 'John Tucker Must Die' and two cups of hot chocolate. She doesn't remember the night I thought I lost my mom's ring at a crime scene and she found me curled up crying on my bed. She put her arms around me and told me two heads are better than one and we'd find it, together. We found it fifteen minutes later underneath the couch." Kate explained her voice thick with emotion, wanting to relive those moments so badly. "Am I supposed to not feel like my world is crashing in on itself, Rick?" She said a minute later, "Because that's how it feels."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "it's going to be okay." He kissed her forehead, "so why don't we have this be more private. Ty promised, scouts honor to tell us any update, and yes he was actually a boyscout," he said, remembering the moment from when they first met.

His comment brought a small, weak smile to her lips and looked up at him, "okay."

* * *

><p>A relaxing bath had proved to be pretty good for at least a temporary relaxation period, and for getting physically clean.<p>

Kate found Rick in the bed typing on his laptop and made her way across the room in yoga pants and one of his shirts. She crawled into the bed and curled up next to him and rested her head on his shoulders.

Rick looked down at Kate and gently put his laptop away so he didn't have to move her much and proceeded to snuggle up with Kate. He wrapped his muscular arms around her, "how are you hold up?" He whispered.

"As best as I can; given the circumstances." She sniffled begging herself not to cry.

He gave her a knowing look at her sniffling and she broke down, she turned her face into his chest and cried, not full on wailing but choked sobs and plenty of tears. This lasted about eight minutes but it felt like forever to Kate. Her crying slowed down and Castle rubbed her back soothingly, whispering that everything would be okay and most importantly, Sophia would regain her memory.

Kate lifted her face from Castle's chest to reveal how upset she actually looked and was. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her lips and cheeks seemed swollen as well. Kate moved in to initate and very wet and emotional kiss with Castle, wanting to feel something other than the pain she was feeling right then and there. "Castle…" She murmured against his lips.

Rick got the feeling of what she was trying to do and he held her back gently, "Kate, I'm not taking advantage of you like this."

"You wouldn't be."

"To me I would so, let's just get some sleep. Maybe you'll sleep some of it off." He tried to reason with her and placed a delicate kiss to her forehead; she calmed a little and fell easily into his arms, snuggling down into the bed with him. Castle made sure that Kate was far into dreamland before closing his eyes and falling asleep himself.

* * *

><p>Kate reached blindly for her cell phone as it rang at five o'clock sharp the next morning. She grumbled and answered it, "this better be good, Esposito."<p>

"Well, I think we found the van that hit, Sophia."

Kate shot up like a rocket, "where?"

"At the crime scene I'm standing at right now." He replied.

Kate started shuffling frantically around, which woke up Castle, "I'll be there in an hour. What's the address?"

Castle came up behind her and placed a hand on her waist, "what's going on?" He mumbled against her hair.

Kate hung up with Esposito and turned around to face Rick, "The boys are at a crime scene and apparently, the van that hit Sophia is there too." She started dressing and Castle hurried off to get dressed as well.

* * *

><p>Kate downed the rest of her coffee and Castle gave her a look, "Kate, are you sure you want to come back? The boys can handle this."<p>

"I'm sure, Castle. I need to do this, for Sophia." Kate said walking away to the crime scene.

"What do we have?" Kate asked a few minutes later, looking around the alley. It went from block to block with a seven foot fence separating part of it.

Ryan sighed and looked at his notepad, "Andrew Grise, forty-two, his wallet, watch, cash, phone, all there."

"So it wasn't a robbery."

"Right. And," Ryan pointed to the van that was parked on the street on the other side of the fence at the end of the alley. "There's the van, dents and shattered windshield are consistent with how Sophia was hit, and the two first license plate numbers match."

"So our vic hit Sophia?" Kate asked.

"Looks that way." Ryan replied.

Kate swore under breath and looked down at Lanie, who was kneeling next to the body, "COD, Lanie?"

"Looks like it's a single GSW to the chest; straight in the heart." Lanie explained, "It looks like a nine mil, maybe? Small caliber cause it hit him close range, anything bigger would have blown a hole straight through him but the wound looks too small."

Kate nodded, "he probably knew his killer." She looked up at the tall building to the right of the body, "Espo, see if anyone heard anything in the buildings next to the alley. Ryan you too."

The boys nodded and finished up their notes before disappearing to do as Kate said.

"How's Sophia doing?" Lanie asked, shaking Kate from her musings, "I heard she's got a pretty nasty case of amnesia. How much does she remember?"

"Well, she lost about the last three almost four years of her life and she hasn't remember much of anything." Kate sighed and bit her lip.

Lanie stood as they wheeled the body into the ME van, "it's only the first day since she's woken up right? So maybe more will come back with time. I'm sorry, girl."

Kate sighed again, "I need to figure out what happened here, maybe we can figure out why he," Kate pointed to the dead body in the ME van, "hit my kid."

* * *

><p>She knew staring at the murder board wouldn't do much but she felt she needed to.<p>

"We did some digging on our guy Grise and we found out he's got a brother in Queens but we haven't been able to locate him. He's got a bunch of priors, probably ones that reach into his teens but those are sealed…" Esposito started.

Kate lifted her head, "any formal education?"

"He attended a community college for two years then dropped out. We couldn't find any record of residence so maybe he was living with his brother." Esposito finished.

"Got any idea about who owns the van?"

"The car is registered to a Gerald Collins, lives in upstate New York, he owns like four of these vans, don't' know why but he owns a bunch of other cars too. The catch is he reported the car stolen this morning."

"That's six days after Grise hit Sophia, why didn't he notice it stolen till now?" Castle asked.

"Let's go ask him."

* * *

><p>Castle slammed the door shut and gazed up at the country club, Kate stood beside him and sighed, "Why are we always ending up interviewing the one percent?"<p>

"Luck of the draw. I mean look, you're dating the one percent," he smirked and started walking towards the entrance of the country club.

Kate pulled the door open and walked up to the front desk, "I'm detective Kate Beckett, NYPD; I need to talk to a Mr. Collins."

The secretary looked up and made a phone call, she made a few hmm's and a few okay's and looked up at Castle and Kate, "just through there."

* * *

><p>"Was that seriously a bunch of crap or a legitimate reason?" Kate sighed and walked into the precinct, "so could he really have not noticed that his car was missing? Ugh." She huffed and sat down into her chair, "you guys got anything?"<p>

Ryan and Esposito both shook their heads.

"There has to be something at that crime scene," she insisted. Kate picked up the phone and called Lanie, "did you find anything on the vic that could help us maybe see if he had an accomplice or something?"

Lanie shook her head and sighed, "no, girl, sorry, maybe call down to evidence and see if found anything in the van."

Kate nodded, "thanks anyways, Lanie, I'll do that." Kate hung up and swung her chair towards the boys, "Ryan, call down see if they found anything in the van, rubber gloves, cigarette stubs, gum wads, anything that could have DNA on it." She got up and ran her hand through her hair, "I'll be back."

"Going to see, Sophia?" Esposito asked.

Kate turned around and gave him a look, "yes if you must know. I'd like to see how my kid is doing, thanks."

* * *

><p>"Knock, knock." Kate said, poking her head into the private hospital room, a bouquet of flowers behind her back.<p>

Sophia looked up at the woman in the doorway, trying to remember her properly but no such luck. She stopped thinking too much about it, fearing the already pounding feeling in her head would worsen. "Hi." She finally said.

"Brought these for you." Kate said, producing the flowers from behind her back.

"Forget Me Nots!" She said excitedly, "my favorite, how did you know?"

Kate sighed a little, _'oh jee I don't know maybe because I'm your mother?'_ Kate shook her head and sighed, "I ugh…" how does go about explaining it without overwhelming her?

"She's your mother, not quite sure if you remember, Sophia. She knows that you love Forget Me Nots because of the one Sailor Moon movie…," Castle said, stepping into the room as well.

Kate looked behind her, a little shocked, 'thank you' she mouthed and turned back around to her daughter.

"My mom. My biological mom… could you umm explain why I know you and my parents haven't rushed in here like overprotective maniacs yet?"

Kate sat down on Sophia's bed and gently placed the flowers next to her daughter's leg, "well, they were accomplices in a murder of one of your classmates you had at Paladin. And I worked the case and pretty much we figured out that you were my daughter and you've been living me ever since."

"Why did you give me up?" Sophia said looking up at her mother.

Kate sighed, "I wanted to give you your best chance…" She did not want to go into the whole 'abandoning her at a real estate office' ordeal so she'd settle for telling her that, because it was still the truth, "and I thought that your best chance at life wasn't with me. I'm so sorry."

Sophia cracked a weak smile, "if I wasn't mad at you before I'm not going to be now." She nodded.

Kate smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, her daughter didn't hate her. She didn't hate her, she just... didn't remember her. Great. Well they'd work on that next, "Sophia, I hate to press this on you but do you remember ANYTHING at all?"

Sophia sighed a little, "unfortunately no, I don't. I'm sorry. I'm still trying to piece together what was happening in my life just before I stopped remembering…" She bit her lip, "and trying to fight off these freaking pain meds at the same time." She smirked a little, "I have to ask though… why do I have this brace on my hand? Did I hit it hard during the accident?"

"You previously injured it, and I guess it got reinjured on impact." She had already told her daughter so much and she wanted her to remember, on her own.

"Okay," she grimaced, "the doctor said my wrist was in better shape than he expected though, so do you think the accident fix it?" Her brow furrowed, bones and medicine could be so funny sometimes.

"Maybe but I'm not a doctor, so I couldn't tell you, you could ask the doctor when he comes to check on you though." Kate said with a smile.

"Oh and by the way, Ty told me about why my hair is suddenly the color of a red velvet cupcake. Looks like I picked a good one, huh?" said Sophia.

Kate nodded and smiled, "you did, I approve of him. He's mature for his age, which I applaud though I mean, look who I'm with so I would want someone like Ty for you."

"Offended!" Castle said from behind them, crossing his arms and pouting like a little boy.

The Beckett women laughed, "well I need to get back to work. I might have to ask you some questions once you remember anything about the accident. Anything could help because it's actually linked to our current case."

"Oh jeez! That's bad. I'll try and see how my memory goes. I'll see you later?" Sophia asked with a smile.

"Yeah, see you later," Kate hesitantely place a kiss to Sophia's forehead, thanking whoever was up there that Sophia didn't reject it. Maybe she took it as that this was a normality between the two brunettes.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for that icebreaker back there, if you hadn't said what you had said I probably would have dashed right back out there." Kate told Rick as they got in their separate cars.<p>

"My pleasure," Castle said and disappearing into his car.

Kate walked back into the precinct after stopping to get lunch for her and the boys. "C'mon boys, break room," Kate motioned her head towards the breakroom. They all happily scurried inside. Kate rolled her eyes, they could really be such children sometimes.

"Figure anything else on our guy Grise? Tried cross-referencing his path with Sophia's?" Kate said as she dug into her Chinese takeout box.

"Tried that, got nothing. Man this guy is like some washed up ghost." Espo sighed. "But you know what? Maybe we're looking at this wrong. Who's to say Grise didn't have an accomplice?"

"What?" Kate asked, putting down her chopsticks and box. "Elaborate."

"Well, he was killed right by the van that's linked to Sophia's case…"

"And Grise's killer could be the one who actually hit Sophia!" Castle and Beckett said in unison.

Ryan's brow furrowed, "okay you are really starting to creep me out whenever you do that. I'm just saying."

Kate's cell rang, "hey, Lanie, what's up?"

"You were out so CSU passed the message onto me, they found some dried sweat on the back of the passenger side of the van, they tested it, it's Grise's. You guys have another person driving that vehicle."

Kate squinted her eyes shut and sighed frustratingly, "Which means we have our killer on the loose. Great. Just great."


	7. Author's note

_Dearest Readers,_

So this has been a long time coming since about a month into writing Safe and Sound. My only reason it's gone six chapters of being solely Castle is because I had so much of it already written and I loved it way too much. But from now on this is going to be a Once Upon a Time and Castle crossover. If you all have read basically any of my previous works minus my Iron Man fanfiction, you'd know I have a tendency to do crossovers. Now, normally I would have left this fic just Castle but I'm trying this new thing where I don't spread Sophia all over the place in fanfics so yeah, I apologize to any just Castle readers I really do but hey if you wanna keep reading that's fine with me. Maybe you could give Once Upon a Time a try so you'd understand it better! :D But as of now it's a crossover and you guys will start to see both Storybrooke and New York kinda setting up stuff for when they eventually cross paths which I'm planning on hopefully happening in Chapter 9 and if not, chapter 10.

Chapter seven shall be up soon! Love each and every one of you readers,

Marisa


	8. Throw All My Secrets Away

**A/N: Hi guys! Told you chapter 7 would be up soon! Ish. Woo okay now that story is moving along I actually have a lot more momentum for this story! So hopefully updates will get quick and quicker. Also, new character this chapter. I'll give you a hint. He's not an OC you just gotta figure out who he is. And no he's not from Castle.**

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><p><em>"Mama! Mama! You're back!" Sophia squirmed out of her nursemaid's arms and ran towards her mother, the four year old was gladly picked up by her mother and snuggled close.<em>

_"Yes my sweet princess, I have returned," she placed her on her hip and walked into the parlor with her daughter, she sat her down with Sophia in her lap, "I also brought you something." She said with a smile, "would you like it now or after your papa joins us?"_

_"Now, mama! Now!" She said happily and clapped her hands._

_Her mother smiled and produced a small pouch from her the pocket in her cloak. She untied it and revealed a necklace, one which had a pendant of a racing horse, gold and glimmering. "Here you, my darling, I got this for you." She told her daughter, "Now, I trust to take good care of this and wear it properly like a little proper princess. Do you promise me you will?"_

_"Yes, mama. It's pretty, like you." Sophia touched the necklace delicately, "I pwomise." She nodded._

_That was all the confirmation her mother needed and she slipped the necklace around the four year old's neck, it dangled a bit low, but she'd grow into it with time. She just hoped her daughter didn't lose it._

Sophia gasped as her eyes snapped open, well that was odd. Almost instinctively she reached towards her neck, for the necklace but found her neck bare, of course she doesn't have the necklace on, she's never seen it before in her life! Or has she… Sophia thought back, the memories fresher than they were supposed to be, did she ever own a necklace like that! Yes! She did! She's always had it. She guessed. Up until age fourteen she had it at least. She needed to ask her mother. But some things still didn't make sense, the scenery for instance and she wasn't aware Kate was her mother when Sophia was four years old, they probably lived on opposite sides of New York by then!

She quickly buzzed the nurse, slowly sitting up in bed, not the wisest decision on her part in her not only groggy state but with every movement, came pain from her abdomen. Those damn cracked ribs! The nurse walked in, "yes, Miss Beckett?" She asked.

"Are any of the meds you all have me on able to cause hallucinations?" She bit her lip.

The nurse quickly looked at the girl's chart and her brow furrowed, "yeah, possibly but nothing too serious, have you had any?"

"I think maybe, well I had a dream that I can't quite explain but it feels real, like a real memory that replays in my dream, ya know. But it can't possibly be real."

The nurse tapped her chin for a minute, "I'll go get your doctor."

Sophia nodded, "thank you."

Regina Mills was cunning, sneaky, and most certainly unknown for being unknown. Unknown in the sense that she could always be one step ahead in the game. So there she was, in the Sheriff's station, did Sheriff Swan and her son really think she didn't know the precious storybook that started this whole thing really didn't lie in one of the drawers at the station? She scoffed a little to herself and pulled out her neverending loop of Skeleton keys, she picked out the one that opened everything in the sheriff's station, cabinets and drawers included and twisted it into the key hole of the top shelf of the desk in the main part of the station. She pulled it out and saw the old brown cover of the book. She picked it up with her leather gloved hands and looked around, hoping no one would intrude.

She knew Emma was off dealing with a drunk during the day Leroy and smirked to herself; if it was anything like she thought, it'd be hell on earth trying to haul Leroy back. Regina prided herself in knowing that Sheriff Swan had been here a year and while the curse had its weak spots, it had remained intact and she thanked that to surprisingly, Sheriff Swan's stubbornness to believe in the curse that was actually unbelievably true.

Regina sat down in the chair and opened the old looking book. The only thing about this curse that boggled her was where in the hell did the book come from? Was this the only book? If there were more where were they? It frightened her if they were sitting, out in the open at the pawn shop or the book store and it worried her even more if they were tucked away in secret by Rumplestilskin. She wouldn't be able to know just where the information that could possibly break the curse alone were located.

Regina tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and flipped through the pages. She bypassed her story, not being able to bear seeing the happy times between her and Daniel and the eventual betrayal of Snow White that lead to the death of her love at her mother's wicked hand.

Regina slowly flicked the pages with her leather covered finger and stopped when she came upon a page. She had never really took the time to read the storybook cover to cover so when she came across a much younger face she hadn't seen in thirty plus years it made her pause. She traced her hand across the picture of a little girl sitting in her mother's lap. The girl was only about four or five and she had a huge grin on her face, her dark hair spilled over her shoulders in wild curls and wore a very proper dress. What hung low and dangling, obviously too big for the four year old to wear properly around her tiny neck was what startled Regina. She knew what it was, she had asked about it. The girl never shared, so that's how she got it. That's how she had gotten the magic. The necklace Regina gave away the second she said 'I do.' to King Leopold.

Regina closed the book; she couldn't bear to even read the text that corresponded with the picture. No. She wouldn't go down that road. Just like she didn't go down the road with re-reading her own story.

A week had passed since Sophia's strange dream and today she was going home. They were still following up leads in the Grise case, and having finally tracked down the brother of Grise and that's how Ryan and Esposito managed to walk up to the apartment building in Queens.

"Can't believe Sophia's coming home today," Ryan said and buzzed the apartment number button.

A loud grumble came moments later, followed by, "what do you want. If you're not Chinese go away."

Ryan buzzed to speak into the intercom, "NYPD, let us up."

The sound of buzzing, signaling a door being unlocked sounded and Ryan and Esposito opened it walking up the two flights of stairs to get to the apartment.

"Yeah, I bet Kate's excited; I heard Martha's planning a welcome home party. Alexis flew in from college too."

Ryan nodded, "that'll be good, so Sophia can at least familiarize herself with everyone in her life and then try to start remembering and recovery. I heard she's on bedrest for the rest of the semester. Gonna go back in January."

"Yeah, Castle was telling me about that, Sophia was pissed, she may not remember school but she was mad about not being able to go back."

"She's like her mom, can't rest for too long." Ryan said with a laugh, "Remember when Beckett came back after she got shot? One of the first things out of her mouth was 'I want my gun'."

Esposito nodded, "yeah, girl was anxious to get back in the game."

When they arrived to the apartment door, Esposito knocked, "NYPD."

Some grumbling could be heard once more from the same location and a man, in his early fifties opened the door, cigarette hanging from his mouth, "yeah?"

"We need to talk to you about your brother, Andrew Grise."

"What'd mah punk, bro do this time?" The man replied and took the cigarette out of his mouth, puffing out smoke towards Ryan and Esposito.

The boys coughed but remained unphased in their facial expressions, "he's dead. Any reason why he would be?"

Panic flushed the older man's face and he opened the door all the way, "come inside."

"Protective order on Joshua Grise." Ryan handed the woman the paperwork and went to his desk, "great." Ryan rolled his eyes, "we're screwed. We really are."

Kate looked over at Ryan from her place at the murder board, "and why would that be?" She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Found out why Grise was probably murdered."

"Why?"

"Because he was knee deep in some serious stuff. Ya know…" He started to fake an Italian accent, "_this kinda serious stuff._"

Kate froze and looked to Castle, "do you think Sophia could be in any more danger?"

"I don't know but I'd double up on the security detail you have standing outside her hospital room." Ryan laced his fingers together, "we put the brother under protective custody."

Kate slowly nodded and walked over to her desk, picked up the phone and made the call.

Kate breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped into her daughter's hospital room; she was unharmed and eating unappealing hospital food. At least she was eating.

"Mom! Hi!" Sophia said and swallowed the last bit of her food. It was slowly becoming more and more comfortable for her to call Kate mom and that gave both the woman a good feeling.

Kate smiled, "hey hunny, how are you doing? Ready to be going home in a few days?" She smiled.

Sophia nodded, "yeah! Hey could you do something for me?" Sophia asked and pushed the

"Anything, sweetie, what is it?" Kate asked and sat down on the bed.

"Umm I had this necklace and I don't know if I still have it cause I did last time I checked but last time I checked a lot of things are different." She laughed a little, "umm it's this gold necklace, it's of a racing horse like a horse in motion not like a horse at the Kentucky Derby. It might be in one of my jewelry boxes so could you check to see if it's there cause I feel like I have this weird connection to it that could maybe help with my memory."

Kate listened to her daughter talk and her brow furrowed, she had never seen Sophia wear the necklace but maybe she just never felt like it. But it meant a lot to her daughter so she'd try and look for it when she went home. "Yeah, sure, no problem." She smiled, "anything else?" She kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Nope. Well, maybe let the detail let Ty in?" She pointed and asked with a giggle.

Kate looked behind her and nodded to the detail. Ty came in with some flowers for Sophia, "you've lucked out, honey," Kate grinned and kissed her daughter's head again, "I'll talk to you later, sweetie."

"Bye, mom." Sophia said. She watched her mother leave and Ty walk in, "hey, stranger." She took the flowers and sniffed them, "what's up?"

"Nothing much, just got out of school, wanted to see you," he leaned down and kissed her.

Sophia smiled against his lips, adjusting to this whole "having a boyfriend" thing made her feel all bubbly inside. "Aww you're sweet. Now why did you really come here?"

Ty rolled his eyes, "injured and lost three years of memory yet can still read me like a boy." He smirked, "well, you might not remember but when I've mentioned my family and I've always said it was just me and my dad… I wasn't being exactly truthful..."

"Hm?" Sophia asked a little confused for many reasons.

"Well, it has always really been just me and my dad but it's cause well, you see, my parents they got pregnant when they were very young, actually right out of high school and they had my older brother, Dylan… and well ya know they managed to get on their feet after a few rough years and when he was in high school, my mom got pregnant with me. She died giving birth to me." He said and looked down a little.

Sophia cupped his face and tipped his face to look at her again, "Ty, I'm so sorry. But I don't really understand… so you have a brother?"

"Yeah, after my mom's death, he took it pretty hard, he was always a bit of a mama's boy and the second he graduated he took off, we never really saw him after that, just a letter or a Christmas card every so often to let us know he was dead." He sighed a little, "he wanted to be a vet but with all the money that went with hospital bills, a new baby, and the funeral that money had to be put elsewhere. He's always blamed and now…"

"Now what?" She stroked his cheek, "you can tell me."

"I guess he's become a cop."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, he just got promoted to detective, here, in New York. Apparently he's been back here for the past several years." He ran a hand through his hair, "I just felt like I lied to you…" Sophia stopped him by kissing him, running her tongue along his bottom lip and pulled back, biting it playfully.

"You're forgiven if that's what you're wondering. I'm glad you told me." She stroked his cheek, "even though I don't remember, you still decided to tell me. And that's very admirable of you." She kissed him again, "thank you."

"You're welcome." He kissed her forehead, "now, I have homework to do because unlike you, missy, I don't get to dodge Calculus homework."

"Okay, I'll see you later?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah." He said and got up, leaving.

"Esposito, Ryan, and…. Mr. Castle I assume you can come too." Gates said from her doorway.

The three men looked at each other like they had just been called to the principal's office. They filed into Gates' office and looked between them and then to Gates.

"Close the door, Detective Ryan." She said.

"Yes, sir." He said like a yes man and quickly shut the door.

"It's come to my attention that this investigation is going incredibly sluggishly. I understand that you are partnering with the boys in blue due to it tying to Sophia's accident but I can't let this go on for much longer or we will soon be wasting resources on a cold case." She explained.

"Sir, we interviewed the victim's brother. Grise was involved in the Mafia. We believe that Sophia's accident was supposed to be a murder, that she was never supposed to wake up from her coma should she had even barely survived."

Gates was silent for a minute, "well, I assume you doubled the security detail in front of Sophia's hospital room?"

"Detective Beckett did," Esposito said.

"Regardless, I think that all the more reason calls for help. He's new but he's quick." Gates made a motion with her hand for someone to come in.

In walked in a man, early thirties, dark hair, a little lanky and crystal blue eyes. He looked at the men before him and held out his hand for them to shake it.

"Boys, this is Detective Dylan Baker. Detective, these are Detectives Esposito and Ryan and Mr. Castle… a… consultant."

"Nice to meet all of you." He shook each of their hands.

Gates scanned her eyes over the four men, "Acquainted? Now get out of my office and solve your murder case."

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><p><strong>AN2: Okay so I really hope you enjoyed that! :D Reviews make me happy and make my fingers type faster!**


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